After Secession, the Southern states quickly designed and adopted a new flag, the First National Flag of the Confederacy, more commonly known as the "Stars and Bars." Its first documented military use was flying over the battered walls of Fort Sumter. The flag is composed of a circular field of seven white stars set into a dark blue canton. The basic design is seen here in a ninth-plate ambrotype of a Confederate soldier’s kepi (military cap) resting on a photographer’s studio table. The unknown artist added to the still-life composition a bit of ribbon and a dogwood flower.